On arrival at the hospital
I was admitted to casualty and told by the first two doctors that
I would have
to have my toes totally amputated.
I was admitted to the hospital.
The following day a plastic surgeon came forward and said he would
be able to operate and perhaps be able to save some of the toes.
Three days after the accident
I was operated on and some pieces of my toes were saved.
I spent the next two weeks in hospital being looked after by some
excellent staff. Doctors had said
it would take months for me to walk again, and that I would always
have a limp, and that I would
probably never play certain of my sports effectively again. The
plastic surgeon said I would probably
only be able to put on normal shoes as my Christmas present.
During this time I experienced
some strongly conflicting emotions. Why did this happen to me,
what did I do to deserve this. I then came to the realization that
these types of things only happen
for a reason and that I had a choice, either to allow the incident
to rule my actions, or to grow from it
and grasp all the opportunities that I could from it happening.
I spent two of the happiest days of
my life in hospital, where I believe, as Brandon Bays would say,
I touched my source and receive
the strength to move forward positively. Four weeks later I was
walking in shoes with only a slight limp.
Five months later someone
else got his or her foot caught in the same Mitsubishi
escalator.
Luckily they escaped with only their shoe damaged. It was a frightening
thought for me because I had subsequently used those escalators,
and to think it could have happened to me again made me angry.
I had assumed that all reports and necessary maintenance
had been done, and that the escalator
company (Mitsubishi)
had taken responsibility for what had happened. I had been too busy
trying to heal and be normal again that I had not fulfilled by obligation
to warn others, especially about a serious danger
that had not been conclusively resolved. This could happen to any
one as it did to me!
Is it only because I am an employee and that it happened in South
Africa, not the USA that no one has taken this seriously, if it
had been a celebrity things would have been different? Nelson Mandela,
Goldie Hawn, Larry King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, David Bowie, Phil Collins,
Luchiano Pavarotti, Whitney Houston, The King of Spain have all
stayed in this hotel. Not to mention international sports stars
whose careers rely on physical fitness.
I also realized that 5
months have passed and that Mitsubishi
had not made any effort
to come forward, to even ask if I was recovering. Surely a response
is common courtesy, especially from a company that my father had
worked closely with, for over 20 years before resigning, and knew
my family.
Or is Mitsubishi
remaining silent to avoid being held accountable?
Is this a responsible way
for an international company to act?
Is forcing a company to
pay the only way to keep the public safe and make manufacturers
responsible for
equipment that they design, install and maintain throughout the
world?
Or is the company just
keeping quiet because they are so large and know people do not have
the money
to fight them! If the same accident can happen 5 months later on
the same escalator how many children
and people need to be maimed before a company will properly maintain
their machines.
How many escalators does Mitsubishi
have in the world, and how many people
have been maimed or killed
because the company has not been held responsible?
Judging by the stories available on the internet
and reports don by newspapers, including the Boston Globe,
it does not matter to manufactures how many people are injured.
Do escalator companies consider
people�s limbs an operating expense?
Please contact me
if you know anyone that I could contact to assist me in warning
the public
of the dangers of escalators.
To top it all off and add insult to injury, two days ago my shredded
shoe and toes were handed to me in a plastic bag.
